but whether the house republicans would accept that or not is a big, big question. it seems to me that's the lead horse, that's the lead solution right now, is a version of the mcconnell plan throwing in the spending, which i think would be a good idea of at least $1.5 trillion worth of spending cuts. whether the house republicans -- they've been sending some signals they won't accept that. in this case, we're really at loggerheads. >> diane swonk joins us. ben bernanke called it calamitous not to raise the debt ceiling. moody's said it would downgrade the u.s. aaa credit rating. let's talk about consequences from an economist perspective. if the u.s. fails to raise its debt ceiling on august 2nd, what does it mean for our already struggling economic recovery? >> well, it's incredibly bad news. it could be enough to push us into another recession, depending on how far. immediately they'd have to do 40% to 45% cuts in spending right off the top of the board. how long that would last? i would first stop paying congress for not doing their job. but i think the real iss